"But the great players have to make the difference. They are the stars and Gareth has been magnificent this season.

"We are fortunate to have players who can be decisive on those moments."

Villas-Boas also played down the furore over Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas describing Tottenham as "Les Rosbifs" (a derogatory French term for the English) ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash between the sides.

He said: "He is a very, very charismatic leader of Lyon. It's not because of his words we're going to lose the concentration on our objective.

"We're going to face a tough, tough team and what I can decipher from those words is Lyon will be extremely up for the challenge and it will be extremely difficult for us."